The Raptarnok Paradox
by poolebandgirl
Summary: Eleven year old Ruth finds herself chased by a strange reptile, then rescued by a mysterious man and his belligerent friend. What would the Raptarnok want with this child? And what does a woman from her future have to do with her past? The Tenth Doctor and his companion, Donna Noble, intend to find out...
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1_**

Above the Earth, the ship slipped stealthily into orbit, unfurling two solar sails as it did so. It looked for all the world like any of the satellites orbiting at that time, and this was the intention. If any government below spotted it they would simply assume it belonged to another nation and it would be long gone before anyone became suspicious.

Because they were in orbit, they were forced to wait patiently for the Earth to turn and reveal their target. The captain, Anesh, was used to waiting. At two hundred years old, he was barely middle-aged. A long-lived species, his kind had learned not to rush and not to be frustrated by delay – unlike his human employer, who was jiggling impatiently beside him.

Neither being spoke, the Raptarnok because he had nothing to say, his boss because she was too busy fiddling with the observation equipment. The inside of the ship was clinical looking; the surfaces were angular and functional, in white and chrome. Most work stations were featureless, but the station where the human worked had lit up; different coloured lights were blinking beneath the surface and as she passed her hand over them things would seem to happen. She passed her hand over a blue patch and a monitor popped out of the wall in front of her. Another wave of the hand activated it and the planet below came into view.

The large land-mass slowly gave way to ocean, then began to approach another continent. The human gave a cry of triumph as Britain hove into view, and the ship's captain allowed himself a small smile of amusement. This smile made the reptilian look toad-like, his mouth wide and his eyes bulging. Then he blinked and the smile was gone.

The view on the monitor was changing, sort of zooming down to the planet's surface below. It homed in on the south coast of England, going down further and further until a town could be seen around a harbour, then individual buildings became visible, then cars and people. No human built satellite could have scanned Earth's surface with such high resolution. The human could have read a timetable at a bus stop had she so desired. Instead, she was hovering her hand expertly over the control lights so that the image moved to the harbour and then along the quay side.

This was an affluent town, and the old warehouses had long since been converted into bars, restaurants and shops. Near one end was a proper stone harbour where fishing boats were moored, but far more prominent was the marina, full to bursting with expensive leisure yachts.

It was on this quayside that the picture finally came to rest; not upon a yacht or something that might be of obvious strategic importance, but upon a child, who appeared to be happily fishing.

"That's her!" announced the human, triumphantly, "now go and do what I paid you for!"

Anesh snapped his jaws in a smart salute and marched from the ship's bridge.

The girl sat on the lowest step of the quay wall, crab line in one hand, net in the other. The sun sparkled on the water and the waves lapped lazily against her toes. Almost motionless, she stared down through the water, seeking out her prey. Several blennies were pecking at the bait but the girl was waiting for a crab to take hold. There was a large one in a crack in the stone wall nearby, and the girl swished the line closer hoping to entice it.

Above her on the quay wall was a clear bucket already teeming with crabs, blennies and shrimps. Occasionally, passers-by would stop, peer into the bucket and comment, but the girl was completely absorbed and took no notice. Her face was obscured by her long, windswept, fair hair but from the slender curve of her back you could tell she wasn't very old- certainly not a teenager yet.

Suddenly there was a tug on the crab-line and the girl gave a start then began to reel it in. The crab clung to the bait with its pincers, determined not to lose its meal, and in this way it was hoisted out of the water and into the waiting net. It was the biggest crab she had caught in absolutely ages, bigger than her hand, and already it was struggling to escape the net.

Excitedly, the child ran up the steps to add her latest catch to her bucket. She crouched down and tipped the net gently so the crab would land safely in the bucket. She only caught the animals so she could look at them and always returned them to the sea when she had finished. The crab put up a brave fight but she got it in there eventually. It was when she stood up straight again that she finally noticed the monster standing before her.

It was huge, nearly double her own height, and had the appearance of an angry, orange gecko. It was naked apart from what looked like military-style dog-tags round its neck, an oversized, thick watch round one fore-leg and a stick thing in its other which it was pointing at her as though it were a gun.

She didn't have time to take in any more detail because she had already decided to turn tail and run. With a roar the gecko monster gave chase, putting the stick in its mouth and dropping onto all fours, the better for speed. Its thick, ridged tail swished the bucket over the side, and with a splash, its inhabitants had their freedom.

The girl ran for all she was worth, arms pumping, lungs screaming for air, and she could hear the thing behind her, maybe gaining on her. She ran into the road straight into the path of a land-train ferrying tourists. The driver blasted his horn but she kept on running. The gecko monster could not get by so easily, and the girl could hear the people on the land-train screaming as the beast ran along the carriages trying to get past. It gave her vital seconds, and she ran pell-mell along the shop-fronts, people screaming and scattering before her when they saw her pursuer.

She ran past an amusement arcade then up an alleyway, hoping to lose the monster in the maze of old streets behind the quay. However, she found her way blocked by a builder's skip and there was nothing else she could do except crouch down with her arms over her head and await the inevitable.

But the attack never came. Instead there was a vworp vworp sound and a little blue box appeared in the alley beside the child. The door opened, and a tall thin man in a pin-striped suit stepped out. He quickly took in the scene; the gecko monster, frozen in position on its hind legs staring at him in amazement; the shaking child curled at its feet; and made a snap judgement of what had to be done. He reached down, scooped up the child, stepped back into the box with her and slammed the door. With another vworp vworp the box was gone, leaving Anesh blinking with bewilderment. The whole rescue had taken just three seconds.

The man set the girl on the floor but she immediately curled into a foetal position, her eyes still tightly closed. The floor was warm beneath her and she could hear a gentle thrumming noise which was oddly soothing.

A woman's voice called out from somewhere, "You were quick- forget your wallet?" Then from nearer, it added, "That's a child!"

"I can see that," replied the man's voice.

"That's an actual child," the woman repeated.

"Yes," said the man, simply.

"You've kidnapped a kid!"

"Well, not exactly…"

"But I sent you out for chips!" argued the woman. "I just wanted some chips, bit of vinegar; nothing too complicated, I would have thought; and you come back with a child!"

The child in question began to wonder whether she would be on the menu instead.

"Well, that's the strangest thing," explained the man. "She was about to be attacked by some giant lizard. Can't have that. Besides, the lizard was between me and the chip shop. I think we need to find a different alley to park in."

Then the girl felt the man crouch down beside her.

"You're safe here," he said, gently. "Why don't you tell us your name?"

She did not reply, but moved her arm slightly so she could sneak a peek. She could see his red basketball sneakers, which seemed to her a bit odd with the snappy suit. Looking up a little more, her gaze met his, and he smiled warmly. His eyes crinkled when he smiled, and he looked kind.

"Up you get," he coaxed, "let me see if that thing's hurt you."

The girl obeyed, and her jaw dropped when she saw where she was. She hadn't seen the box arrive, and was amazed to find herself on what could only have been described as an alien spaceship. The walls seemed somehow alive like flesh, and a central console was pulsing, a bit like a heart.

The woman was looking at her curiously. Despite the harshness of her voice, the girl thought she looked nice. The woman must have been about her mum's age and she had wavy, red hair. It was a colour she would describe as "bourbon" which always made her mum laugh for some reason.

"Have you been taught not to talk to strangers?" the lady demanded.

"You're a good girl then. But we can help you, so you're going to have to trust us."

"Well," said the man, "I'm the Doctor, this is Donna, and you're Ruth, so now we all know each other!"

"How did you…" began Ruth and Donna together.

"I'm brilliant!" replied the Doctor, but Donna had already followed his gaze down to Ruth's shoe, where a little badge with her name had been pinned as a decoration.

Ruth jumped back as the Doctor suddenly produced a slender silver torch with a blue light on one end and began waving it over her. It made intermittent peeping sounds.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" shouted Donna, pushing it away. "When will you learn to stop bleeping people? I'm sorry," she added more gently to Ruth, "he's got no manners has he?" She turned back to the Doctor. "And where's my chips? My stomach thinks my throat's been cut!"

Ruth's stomach gave a loud rumble at the mention of food.

"I have to go home," she said. "It must be lunch time and Mum will wonder where I am."

"We need to keep you a little longer while we find out what was chasing you," replied the Doctor. "It might still be looking." Ignoring the dirty look from Donna, he resumed his bleeping.

"I don't mean to be rude," he murmured, "but what's so special about you? Why would it be chasing you? And what was it?"

"You mean you don't know?" said Donna, incredulously. The Doctor turned to her.

"Have you any idea how many different species there are throughout the universe?" he asked her. "How many have come and gone from beginning to end? Not to mention countless parallel universes. Of course I don't know them all. I doubt I've met even the tiniest fraction of them. But the TARDIS has databases and we might be able to find out."

So saying, he turned to the pulsing console and was reaching out to its controls when at that moment, the TARDIS, which Ruth hadn't been aware was moving, juddered to an abrupt halt, knocking them all off their feet.

"What was that?" demanded a startled Donna, as they all picked themselves up. The Doctor bit his lip.

"I have an awful feeling our lizard friend is about to introduce itself to us," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Ruth looked from the Doctor to Donna and back again.

"So what's happening?" she asked.

The Doctor was busy fiddling with controls, and answered her without looking up.

"We're in my TARDIS," he explained, "which is like a spaceship…"

"Well, I think she guessed that!" Donna interrupted him. "Just tell her what's happening!"

"As I was saying, we're in my TARDIS, and when I picked you up, I set her into orbit. It would seem that we were not alone up here. We've been intercepted." He pulled up a small monitor, and turned it so Ruth could see. Donna leaned in over her shoulder.

"We're on another ship, aren't we?" she demanded. "Marvellous! You've 'rescued' this little girl, only to get us all captured! Well done! I only wanted chips." She grumbled the last bit under her breath, but Ruth heard and backed off nervously. She had a feeling that this lady was as fiery as her hair, and that the lack of chips was somehow her fault; Ruth was generally a very good child, and didn't like the idea she might be in trouble for something. She felt the Doctor's hand on her shoulder and looked round.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "her bark's worse than her bite."

"I heard that!" Donna countered, and the Doctor hurriedly turned back to the monitor. It showed what was outside. They were in a huge, almost empty room- the dirty, grey wall was several feet away and there were pillars holding up a high ceiling. Dotted around were a few crates and what looked like engine parts.

"We appear to be in some sort of cargo hold," he explained to Ruth.

"Now, the question is, do we wait for our hosts to come and greet us, or shall we go for a little explore?"

Ruth looked horrified at the idea of going outside, but Donna was already holding the door open.

"Come on, then," she said. "Let's get this over with."

The Doctor and Donna stepped outside, but Ruth did not follow. She just hugged herself tightly and looked very small. The Doctor turned back to her and held out his hand.

"Come on," he said, "the safest place for you is wherever I am."

"I wouldn't…" Donna began, but a stern glance from her friend silenced her. "Yeah," she said instead. "Come with us. You'll be fine."

Ruth stepped outside and looked back. Her jaw dropped, astounded. She ran back into the TARDIS, then stepped out again, staring in amazement at the blue box.

"But…" she began.

"Yes?" the Doctor asked her, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Well, it's… it's…"

"Here we go," muttered Donna.

"Yes?" prompted the Doctor again.

"It's… smaller on the outside!" Ruth gasped. The Doctor threw his head back and roared his delight.

"Smaller on the outside!" he cried. "Yes, it is! Good for you! You'd be amazed at how few people have said that to me! Smaller on the outside! There you go Donna, that's today's generation for you- thinking outside the box!" and he laughed some more at his joke. Donna just shook her head and took Ruth's hand and the three of them walked towards the nearest door.

Anesh looked up from the monitor where he had been watching the three companions as they left their strange blue box. The woman leaned in for a look and frowned.

"Who are these people?" she asked of him. He shrugged.

"I don't know." His voice was hoarse and sibilant. "Thiss man appeared, ssnatched the child, dissappeared. The woman I have not sseen. They inssult me, walking through my sship ass though they own it!"

"And they will be punished," the woman assured him. "Make sure they all find their way to me in the laboratory."

"Ass you wissh," the Raptarnok responded, but she had already marched off the bridge.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and his companions had reached another doorway at the end of another long, white corridor. Ruth had become completely disorientated by the long succession of corridors and doors, each of which the Doctor had managed to open in short order. With a flourish, he whipped out his sonic screwdriver and got to work on this latest lock. Within seconds, the chrome door swished back to allow them through.

"That was easy," observed Donna.

"Mmm. Too easy." The Doctor frowned, but he walked through the door. Donna and Ruth followed, although Ruth did so very hesitantly.

This doorway simply revealed another white corridor with five more chrome doorways at regular intervals. It reminded Ruth of a bank of lifts she had seen in an American skyscraper on the telly. The Doctor was already trying the lock of the nearest door, which remained resolutely shut. Shrugging, he tried the second and third doors to no avail. The fourth, however, was open within seconds, while the final door again refused to open.

"That's weird," the Doctor mused.

"Why aren't there aliens or soldiers or something coming to get us?" Donna demanded. "Wherever we've been, we've always had some sort of reception committee, and not usually friendly, I have to say; so where are they?"

"Quite. And I'm not the one opening these doors," the Doctor admitted. "It's like we're being shown the way."

"I want to go back," Ruth said suddenly. "I don't like it. I want to go home." She turned to go but the door leading back closed in front of her, blocking her way. Now the only way they could go was onwards, through the fourth of the elevator doors, for that was indeed what they were.

The moment all three were inside, the door slid shut and they began to move. Ruth could tell by the sudden downwards lurch of her tummy that the lift was going up and clung anxiously to Donna's hand, wide-eyed and trembling slightly. The lift stopped moving as abruptly as it began, and the door opened without delay, and they stepped into not another corridor, but a large room. The lift doors swished shut behind them.

This room kept to the white and chrome colour scheme. In the centre, and going down the length, was a long work bench, on which was strewn various tools and instruments that Ruth imagined could be found in some sort of futuristic science laboratory. They were all made of chrome, and shone in pristine condition, as though they were meant to look showy rather than to be used. The worktop, like everything else on the ship so far, was white, with chrome sides, and there were chrome stools spaced along one side. What drew Ruth's eye, though, was the row of cages along the wall to her left, and more specifically, their inhabitants.

"Oh, my," whispered the Doctor, transfixed.

The cages each bore a person, some young, some older, and they all stared back at the newcomers with a look of desperation in their eyes. Ruth stepped further into the lab and walked along the row of cages, gazing at each in turn. There were five cages in total, but the last one was empty. The other four occupants watched Ruth sadly as she passed them. The first cage held a surly looking teenaged boy, while the next two each held a young woman. Some of them were thin and dirty and Ruth had the feeling they had been there a long time. In the fourth cage, a thin young man in a dirty Post Office uniform reached out to clutch at her sleeve.

"Ruthie?" he asked, querulously. "That's never little Ruthie?"

This was just too much, and Ruth screamed. The man drew back, wincing, and the Doctor hurried forward to put a protective arm around his young charge.

"Who are you?" he demanded of the man, but there was no reply.

"Do you know him?" the Doctor asked Ruth. She just shook her head, staring wide-eyed at the man who knew her name.

"His name," said a voice, "is Mark Anderson, and Ruth most certainly does know him." The Doctor and Ruth wheeled around to see that a woman had entered through another doorway and was pointing a gun in Donna's direction. With the gun, she gestured that Donna should join her friends. For once, Donna was silent, but she went to stand in front of Ruth, as if to protect her.

The woman looked about forty. She was short and stocky with thick glasses and lank greying hair. She wore a crisp white lab coat but still managed to look unkempt, somehow. Her eyes glinted malevolently, magnified by the lenses, and she regarded Ruth, who was peering out from between the Doctor and Donna, with pure hatred.

"Tell them who Mark Anderson is," the woman instructed her. Ruth made to squeeze through the gap, but the Doctor held her back with his arm. Like Donna, his first concern seemed to be to provide a physical barrier between Ruth and the gun.

"Um, why don't you put the gun down first?" he suggested. "You're making me nervous, and there's no way I'm allowing my young friend to talk to you while it's aimed at us. It's downright rude, if you ask me."

"I wasn't asking you," snapped the woman. "You're rude, interfering in my business, snooping round where you're not wanted."

"Ah, well, that's what I do, you see. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Doctor, and this is Donna. Our young friend here you seem to have met, so you have the advantage of us. And you are…?"

The woman lowered the gun, but she did not put it away or shake the Doctor's outstretched hand.

"My name is Fiona Higgins," she replied, still glaring past the Doctor at Ruth, who was open mouthed. "That's Fat Fiona, Freaky Fiona, and Frog-face Fiona to the likes of young Ruth, here."

"No," whispered Ruth, "Fiona's in the year above me at school. She's only twelve. You're not her- how can you be?"

"Oh, dear," said the Doctor. "You've come back in time, haven't you? What do you want, Fiona?"

Fiona raised the gun once more.

"I want all three of you in that cage," she said, gesturing. "I'm afraid it'll be a bit cramped, but I was only expecting the one guest."

Behind her, the gecko lizard creature that had chased Ruth earlier entered the lab. He whispered something in Fiona's ear, and she whispered back. Then the creature moved forward to push the three captives into the cage. Before he did so, he frisked each of them in turn. With Fiona's gun still trained on them, they did not dare resist. The Doctor tried not to show his dismay as it found and removed his sonic screwdriver. From Donna it took a mobile phone, then it turned to Ruth. She didn't wait to be frisked and instead turned out her pockets, offering the beast a pebble, some leaves and a sticky Kitkat wrapper which enfolded an old and well-chewed wad of gum. The creature wrinkled its nose in a very human gesture of disgust and took the items carefully in its claws, trying not to touch the wrapper too much.

"How ssweet," it hissed at Ruth, breathing a foul stench over her as it did so. She backed off quickly, seeking the relative safety of the cage. The Doctor and Donna were not so easily intimidated, and had to be pushed roughly before they would comply. The sound of Fiona clicking the safety catch off the gun sped them up somewhat. As soon as they were securely locked in, Fiona clicked the safety back on and pocketed the gun once more.

"I have some urgent business to attend to," she said. "I'll deal with you later. Come, Anesh," she addressed the creature, and within a moment they were gone, leaving the prisoners alone once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Ruth looked around the cage. It was less than two metres wide and maybe three deep. There was a mattress on the floor with a single blanket and a bucket in one corner. Otherwise it was completely empty and far too small for three. Ruth didn't like to think about what the bucket might be for, or how they'd all manage, either. The walls dividing the cages were solid chrome up to Ruth's chest, then barred the rest of the way to the ceiling, so the inmates did not have much privacy from each other.

Donna was already shaking the door of the cage, testing its strength, but the Doctor just stood and stared at Ruth speculatively. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze and somehow couldn't meet it, so she looked instead at the bars dividing their cage from the next and found the man who was supposed to be Mark Anderson looking back at her. She had so many questions, but she just didn't know where to begin. The Fiona she knew was twelve, as was Mark, but this Mark was grown-up, while their captor was- well, a bit old in Ruth's eyes. She had heard the mention of time-travel, but how could that be? And why would the grown-up Fiona be looking for her anyway? Why not just go and knock on the grown-up Ruth's door in her own time?

The Doctor had walked across to face Mark Anderson through the bars.

"How did you get here?" he demanded. Mark Anderson shrugged.

"I was doing my round as usual," he said. "I'm a postman. I shoved a letter through a door, turned round, and there was Lizardman behind me. Before I could do anything, he raised his stick, and I woke up in here. And here I've been ever since. I've lost count of the weeks."

"And you know this Fiona?"

"Haven't seen her since school. Didn't take much notice of her there, either. Nobody liked her."

"So why has she got us here?"

Mark shrugged again.

"Some nutty idea about us bullying her, and how we're all gonna pay, when she completes her collection, I suppose. And I reckon as Ruth's is the last cage, we'll find out what that is, soon enough."

Mark's gaze fell upon Ruth, who had been listening in silence.

"I haven't bullied anyone," she said sullenly, and turned away to sit on the mattress, with her back to the others. The Doctor made to move towards her, but Donna stopped him.

"Leave her alone," she said. "We've got to figure out a way to get out of here. Bullied or not, that woman's unhinged."

"I'm all over it," the Doctor replied, "but I'm a bit stuck without my screwdriver. We need something we can pick a lock with."

Without turning or speaking, Ruth reached into a pocket and slid something across the floor behind her. The Doctor quickly retrieved it and held it up triumphantly.

"A pen-knife!" he enthused. He turned it in his hands, admiring the red casing. "And not just any old knife, either- a proper Swiss Army job! How did you…?" Then he remembered that Ruth had emptied her own pockets, thus avoiding being searched. "Oh, you clever girl!" he marvelled.

Picking the lock was easier said than done, however. The Doctor had to put his arm out through the bars then sort of twist and bend his wrist backwards so that the knife blade could be inserted into the keyhole. In this awkward position it was almost impossible for him to feel where the tumblers inside the lock were. Donna stood behind and offered alternately words of encouragement and criticism, which the inhabitants of the other cells soon picked up on and joined in with their own words.

Suddenly, they began to fall silent one by one, but the Doctor was too busy to notice, until with a cry of frustration, he lost his grip on the pen-knife. In horror, he watched it skid along the floor and come to rest between the feet of Fiona.

"Oops," he said, sheepishly. Fiona simply picked it up and placed it on the laboratory bench.

"You're wasting your time," she said to the Doctor, conversationally. "These locks are manufactured on Klom, and are DNA sensitive. They may _look _traditional, but I can assure you they are state of the art. Your little knife is going to be quite ineffectual, I'm afraid."

The Doctor tried his best to look unperturbed.

"Why don't you just let us all go," he said to her. "I can't see what possible use any of these people could be to you, and you're breaking several inter-galactic laws, including abduction and crossing your own time-line. You're risking life-imprisonment on a labour farm in some remote part of the galaxy, and for what, exactly?"

Fiona strode over to the Doctor, and stood almost nose to nose with him, but because of her diminutive stature, she was more nose to chest. Obligingly, the Time-Lord stooped slightly until their eyes were level.

"Have you any idea," she demanded of him, "what these people have put me through? I have endured a life of ridicule and friendlessness at the hands of these people and others like them. From the first day of school I have been the victim of taunts and jeers and outright bullying, for nothing more than being less pretty, smaller, bespectacled and- and-"

"Ginger?" offered Mark Anderson.

"Oi!" Donna warned him, beginning to bristle, but her look was nothing compared to their captor's. Mark stepped back smartly as Fiona turned her baleful stare on him.

"You were the worst of the lot!" she spat, approaching his cage. "It was you, right from First School, and you stayed with me all the way through, teasing me, making snide comments, turning the other children against me until I had no friends at all."

Ruth had stood and now joined the Doctor and Donna.

"I'm your friend," she said. "We play when your Mum comes round for coffee."

"Only because your mother made you," countered Fiona, turning back to her. "You never liked me, really."

"But I didn't hate you. And I never bully you. I don't bully people. I don't understand what you want from me."

"Oh, look at you, all sweet and blonde and butter-wouldn't-melt. You were as bad as any of these. You didn't turn kids against me like Mark Anderson, or hide my things like Shannon Parker, or flush my plimsolls down the loo like Amy Portfield, but you were just as bad, and you'll be punished just the same!"

"I never flushed any plimsolls down any loo!" called a young woman from one of the other cages. The Doctor grinned at her through all the bars separating them.

"Amy Portfield, I presume!" he cried. "I'm the Doctor! Pleased to meet you!" Then he turned his attention back to Fiona, his smile gone, his expression much more serious.

"I'm so sorry you had such a terrible time at school," he said to her quietly, "but unless I'm very much mistaken- and I rarely am in these matters, being a Time-Lord and all- you have been taking these people out of different times and crossing your own time-line no end in the process. I can't begin to tell you how disastrous that can be and how much danger we are all in as a result. And your Raptarnok friends are fully aware of these dangers, and of the laws, and are assisting you anyway. What's in it for them, I wonder?"

"I pay well," snapped Fiona. "I came into a lot of money a few years back, as a result of my terraforming research, and brought the Raptarnok into my employ, when I learned of their particular talents."

"All the money on Earth couldn't get me to do what they've done," responded the Doctor. "It just wouldn't be worth it. I rather suspect they're using you, Fiona, and I do really think we need to find out what for. Let me help you. I think right now you need a true friend, and I can be that friend."

Fiona laughed bitterly.

"You? Be my friend? And help me with what? Your false sincerity doesn't work on me, _Doctor,_ the only person you want to help is that snivelling specimen in the cage with you!"

She turned, then, at the sound of the lift doors opening. Anesh approached.

"We're almosst ready," he hissed. "We'll need one to tesst it on- can I ssuggesst the ssmallesst?" he pointed towards Ruth.

"Wait," Donna interrupted. "Whatever it is you're planning to do, I think it's only fair for you to let Ruth know what she did. So far, you've only given her a list of the things she _didn't _do wrong, so we're all rather wondering what it is you hold against her."

"Well. That's simple," said Fiona. "She did nothing."

"You what?"

"She did nothing. She saw what was happening to me- she was there when Mark called me names and encouraged the others to join in. She saw Shannon take my new coat, she was there when Mum hit me for losing it- and she did nothing to help me. She says she was my friend, but she turned a blind eye. And at High School she avoided me altogether. She was as bad as the others."

Ruth stared at her, aghast.

"What was I supposed to do?" she demanded, indignation suddenly overcoming her shyness. "You're all in the year above me, and we're _all_ scared of Mark and Shannon. They bully everyone. People with any sense keep out of their way, but you seem to get noticed. And you're not exactly nice to me. You called me weird for liking nature, and what about the time you threw my ball into the brambles? That's why I don't like playing with you. And how can you blame me for High School? I'm not even at High School!"

"She's got a point there, you know," Donna pointed out. "You can't hold someone for something they haven't done yet. That's just too weird. You could just tell her not to do it. And while we're at it, why not pick all the others up _before _they started to bully you, and just put the fear of God up 'em what you'll do to 'em if they dare come near you at school?"

The Doctor smiled at Donna.

"It's not that easy," he explained. "In order to find anyone, you have to know where they are. In order to find someone in another time, you have to know exactly where they were at a given moment. And in order to capture them, you need to know a given point in time and space at which they were alone and vulnerable- am I right?" He turned to Fiona but did not wait for an answer. "So you must remember having seen Ruth on the quay on that particular day, so that you could send your friend after her, and you must remember seeing Mark on his postal round to have captured him. And you must have a memory for dates almost as good as mine!"

Fiona glared at the Doctor for a moment, then turned away and stood beside Anesh to fiddle with the equipment on the bench. The Doctor strained to see what they were doing, but they were careful to block his view.

"You are right," she replied eventually, still working. "But this is all idle chat to buy you time, and I'm tired of it. I think it's time we got on with things, don't you?"

"The ssmall one, then?" Anesh asked her, already approaching the cage. Fiona appeared to consider for a moment before replying.

"No, I think we can keep her a bit longer. But I don't think the 'Ginger' remark should go unpunished, do you?"

"Very well," sighed Anesh and he turned his attention instead to Mark's cage. Mark's face drained of all colour, and he pressed himself as far back as he could. He whimpered quietly, tears forming in his eyes, and Donna jabbed the Doctor hard in his ribs.

"Do something!" she hissed, but the Doctor did not respond. He was watching with interest the apparently ordinary bunch of keys from which Anesh was selecting to open Mark's cage.

As soon as the cage door was open, Mark's cries of fear turned into a scream of rage, and he lunged forward, sending the surprised Raptarnok off-balance. Somehow he managed to squeeze past and was sprinting towards the open lift doors at full pelt. Fiona reached out to stop him, clutching at his jacket, but he pulled himself free without breaking stride. The Raptarnok, having regained his bearings, took aim with his stick, but Mark was too quick, and already the lift doors were closing. Hissing angrily, Anesh hit the wall next to the lift. A previously invisible door opened and he disappeared through it. Donna caught a glimpse of what looked like a stairwell before the door swung closed, fitting so neatly it became invisible once more.

Fiona glared at the remaining prisoners.

"You'll all pay for this," she promised, then followed her colleague, angrily sweeping the equipment from the workbench as she went.

For a few moments, everyone remaining stood in shocked silence, which the Doctor broke by clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

"Well, don't just stand there!" he said to Donna. "This is our chance!" and so saying, he pointed to the floor in front of their cage. There lay, amongst the broken glass from a beaker, a pointed tool that reminded Donna of something a dentist might use. Ruth quickly got down to her knees and reached her slender arm through the bars to retrieve it. When she brought her hand back, she had some small shards of glass sticking into her skin. The Doctor very gently brushed those away before snatching the tool and getting to work on the lock once more.

"What are you doing?" demanded Donna, taking Ruth's hand to check for herself there was no blood. Satisfied the child was unharmed; she turned her attention back to the Doctor. "Fiona said those locks have DNA technology, they're un-pickable."

"Well, either she was bluffing, or that lizard lied to her," replied the Doctor, as their door swung open, "'cause I know good old-fashioned Chubb keys when I see them!"

The trio moved quickly, Donna taking the keys from the lock to Mark's cage and unlocking the remaining doors, the Doctor scanning the bench and floor for any useful items. Ruth stood uncertainly next to the Doctor, alternately watching him, the lift door and the wall beside it for any sign of Fiona or the Raptarnoks.

With a cry of triumph, the Doctor picked up both his sonic screwdriver and Ruth's penknife. He also found an unbroken phial containing a clear, gloopy liquid which he held up to the light to inspect. He fumbled in his pockets until he found a pair of black rimmed glasses which he balanced on his nose, then held his sonic screwdriver up to the phial. It glowed blue and peeped quietly, and the Doctor hummed to himself.

"What is it?" Ruth asked, but the Doctor simply placed the phial in another pocket and turned to face the others. Behind Donna stood Fiona's remaining five captives, and they all regarded the Doctor expectantly, waiting for him to suggest their next move.


End file.
